At the Carrie Furnaces, built in 1906-1907 as furnaces 6 and 7 of U.S. Steel's Homestead Works and operated until 1978, artists of the Industrial Arts Cooperative created the Carrie Deer on site after returning there in 1997. Inspired by the deer they encountered after trees and plants had reclaimed the closed mill site, the Core Artists spent one year working each Sunday, using only hand tools and scavenged materials from the site to build an over 40-foot wire-frame sculpture anchored by chains to the base building and secured with twisted wire ties. A number of the artists had previously created The Owl sculpture in the site's Engine House, and additional volunteers helped hoist the deer's components into place. The first six months were devoted to salvaging materials, planning the design, developing methods for using the materials, and determining a fastening system with hundreds of hand-cut wire ties. Pipe was bent into hoops for the load-bearing neck, a pipe frame was attached to the foundation roof, and scaffolding was built so the hoops could be secured to the vertical frame. The head was shaped on the ground with attention to deer features and built with a connecting ring strong enough to support the head, ears, and antlers, as well as hoop structures strong enough to hold the artists during construction. Cabling, guide ropes, and a mechanical winch were used to lift and position the head, which at one point hung by the winch cable until work resumed the following week, and the same process was repeated for the other components. Multi-colored hoses salvaged from the blast furnace systems were woven through the framework as accents, especially in the ears, antlers, head, and neck. The ears were built on the ground, tested for fit, then lifted and tied into place; more than nine months into the project, the sculpture still resembled a doe. The expansive antlers, one of the greatest design challenges, were developed from a maquette, built on the ground, accented with hoses and a ribbon of thin shiny metal, and then hoisted into place. Intended as a transient work when the site was slated for demolition, the Carrie Deer was completed just before winter 1998, later protected by successive site owners, and became an integral feature of the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area site.
